Safety-razor.



FARNUIVI F. DORSEY, OF 'WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

SAFETY-RAZOR.

resetear.

Specification of Letters Patent. Pattngd Sept., jul, :|191 *Q Application sied August 7,1916. seriai No. 113,442.

' To all 'whom t may concern:

a citizen of the United States, residingat IVinche'ster, in the county of Middlesex and lCommonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sa-fety-Razormoand I do hereby declare thefollowing to bel a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, suoli as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to razors of thev type in which the blade, when in shaving position, is held with its length* transverse `la to that' of lthe handle or stock on which it is. mounted. More particularly, the invention relates torazors, of the said type, in which provision is made for cleaning and stropping the blade without lremoving it `from the stock, by connecting the blade pivotally with the stock so .that it may swing, from its normal shaving position, into a position in which it may be stropped, and viceversa..

One object of the present invention is to produce a razor in which the blade, bothv when used in shaving lposition and when stropped, shall have that position, relative tothe handle by which the razor is manipulated, which experience has demonstrated to be most convenient and effective. It has been found that under both of said conditions it is-desirable -that the edge of the blade be located or oii'set, from the axis of the'A handle, only a comparatively short distance, which is substantially less than the width of most commercial blades as now manufactured for safety-razors. There the distance in question is -too great the razor tends to turn in the hand when used for shaving, while in stropping it is diiicult to produce and regulate the proper degree of pressure of the edge against the'strop.

To attain this object of the invention it is proposed to mount the blade upon a stock having a lower handle-portion, by which it is manipulated, and a rearwardly offset upper portion or arm to the upper end of which the'l blade is pivotally connected. By this offset arrangement the edge of the blade may be brought back to the proper position relative to the axis of the handle.

In previousl razors of the kind in question it has been proposed to mount the blade pivotally upon a stem which is .arranged to slide telescopically within the handle, for

the purpose of removing the blade from the Beit known that I, FARNUM' F. DoiisEY,

guard and engaging it witha retaining-device. Such construction involvesa vcertain .degree of weakness, and the liability to looseness or play between the handle 'and the blade, which is-especially apparent when the parts are in the extended stroppin'g position. A second object of the present invention` is to provide for the more Secure support of the blade at all times, and more particularly in the stropping position, and

this object is 'attained by mounting the' for stropping the razor a longer stock is;A

desirable. vAn object of the present invention is to produce a razor, ,of the kind'in question, in which the stock shall be of sufii'cient length for convenient stropping, while being of less effective length when the razor is in shaving 'positionin which position it is desirable that it-be as short and compact as possible Vfor convenience in packing 'and transporting the razor.

To the end last mentioned the inner sliding stem of the present razor is arranged to pass entirely through the handle, but to terminate at or near the lower.` end of the handle when the parts are' in the shaving position. stropping position the stem is moved to a lower position in the handle, and this results incidentally in projecting the stein below the handle so as to increase'the effective length of the stock as a whole.

Other objects of the invention, and the features of construction by which they are attained, will be set forth hereinafter, in connection with the description of the illustrated embodiment of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a side-elevation of a razor embodying the present invention, with the parts in the shaving position; F ig. 2 is a `vertical niedi'an sectional `view of the razor, with the When the parts are placed in the ion - in a safety-razor adapted'for use with l holder, these lips embracing the shoulders extren'iities of its cutting-edge andl assist inv blades of a well-known form, but it will .be apparent that blades of other forms may be readily'substituted by slight changes whichneed vnot be described. The blade, as shown, l

comprises a body 10 of thin sheet-steel,

which, is provided with a thickened back-1 1, inade. by bending and .clamping a' strip of sheet-metal around the edge of the body l0.

The blade is held, removably, in a bladeholder 1,2. This blade-holder consists of a piece of sheetmetal bentinto U-shap e,in

cross-section, and'it embraces the back 11 of the. blade closely, and with a spring-action sutlicient rto prevent accidental longitudinal displacement. The blade is introduced and t in the 'st'ropping position, as shown in Figs.

removed longitudinally, and lateral-movement of the blade in the holder is prevented by in-tui-ned lips 1'3 at the edges o'fthe formed by the back 110il the blade.

A guard cooperates with the blade, this guard 4comprising the usual teeth le., which .are formed at theedge of a plate l5. The guard-plate is also provided with hooks .16 j

and lugsA 17 which embrace the'blade at the maintaining the proper relative operative position of the blade' a'nd the guard. V

The blade-holder and thebladeare supported and manipulated by means of a stock which comprises two parts. The part 18 is suitably formed to be securely grasped and turned inthe hand in the `operations of y shaving and stropping, andis'accordingly head 21.

referred to hereinafter as the handlerv The other ypart 19 is in the form of an eX- tension or arm, which extends parallel with theaxis of the handle but isotfs'et therefrom, rearwardly, a-substantial distance, for apurpose which has already beenset forth.

The blade-holder 11 is connected, at tlie lmiddle of its length, with the arm 19 by a swivel-joint which permitsI angular or turning movements of the holder both about an axis parallel with its length, `and about an alXis transverse to its length. AFor this purpose a swivel-stud 2O is arranged to turn 4in a hole in the upper end of the arm 19,

and this stud is provided with a head 21 which is bored transversely to receive aj The pin is soldered or otherwise secured to the back of theblade-holder,

pivot-pin 22.

which latter is also recessed to clear the 'The guard is supported by a stem which slides withina bore extending through the handle. rl'his stem comprises an upper part 23 of greater diameter, and a lower part 24C parts in position spring t 'en acts' to retain'the l-of`iless diameter, the partl 24 extending bep yond the lowerend. of the` 'handle and terminating in 'an'A enlarged end or'knob 26.

. A compression-'spring'., coiled around the part 24 ofthe stem, acts, at its upper end, against. Lv-shoulder onthe stem #and tendsto foreethe stem upwardly. Accordingly, whenv the parts are in shaving` po I sition. the guard is'constantly pressed up wardly, this movement being' arrested by the blade', through its engagement-` with the.

liooksl. y

The arrangement just described compen-` sates automatically `for variationsl inv the widths of' the. blades which may be used,

land provides'for a close and firm lit-ting of the parts undery all'Y conditions. f

To prevent the guard-plate Afrom turning, about the axisvof the stem, the plate is provided with two earswhichembrac'e the arm A"19 laterally, as shown innthe,drawings.l f

Vhen the blade-holder andthe blade are narrow block 27, which is provided with a vnarrower 'upwardly-projecting- .tongue 28.

the stem. .This device is in the form of a This tongue is adapted to enter either end,

of theblade-holder vl2and to be closely embraced th'ereby," andin order to provide space in the blade-holder for this purpose the blade-holder is inade long enough to extendslightly beyond the blade at each end, and

the lips 13 are' also interrupted atv the ends of the blade-holder.

For convenience in manipulating the razor the rear corners otjthe guard-plate 15`are Lcurved downwardly. i 'Vhen the parts are to be moved A:from shaving position' to strop- I ping position these corners are pressed downwardly, thus depressing th'e guard and the stem.` lThe 'blade vis then swung into s'troppin'g position and the guard and Stem are allowed toris sufficiently to engage the retainin -device with the blade-holder. The 4 parts in the stropping position. i 1 l In 'previous razors of the type in 'question the blade has been mounted on the inner telescopic member, or stem,'while theguard has been` mounted on the outer member, o r handle. By jthereversal of this arrangement several important advantages` are secured in the present razor. In the. first place, this novel arrangement renders. it vpossible to oli- -set the .point of pivotal attachment of the blade rearwardly, with the advantages before'set forth. In the second place, the connections between the handle and the blade, are rendered more rigid, by the exclusion of the slidingy joint betweenthehandle and the stem, and thisis a valuable feature in stropshaving position to stropping position, and

vice-versa,'is yfacilitated, since it is necessary only to pressfdown the guard-plate with two lingers, as vhe 'inbetore described, to'ielease the blade, which -inay then be conveniently turned from` 'n'eposition to the other without the necessi v' ,of sustaining the springtension by pull'i Yg at the same time on the blade, as would be.'A necessary were the blade `mounted on thestem in the usual manner.

lVhen the pa-itsaije in shaving position the end-knob 2G of thel stem is close to the end of the handle, but when the stein is depressed to the stropping position it projects beyond the handle, thus substantially increasing the eliective length of the stock and facilitating the stropping operation.

An incidental advantage of the present construction-resides in the fact that the blade can at any time, without removal from the holder, be turned over to bring its other face to the outward position, and it has been found that such reversal increases the usetul du ation of the edge between successive stropping operations.

My invention is not limited to the einbodiment thereof hereinbefore described, andv between thegua rd and the stock, upon which the guard may move toward and' from the blade,-from an upper shaving position to a lower stropping position.

2. A razor having, in combination, a stock including a grasping-portion or handle and an upper portion rigidly connected with the handle; a blade; pivotal connections, di rectly between the blade and said upper portion of the stock, upon which the blade may be turned about an axis transverse to its length; a guard; movable connections, between the guard and the stock, upon which the guard may move, toward and from the blade, from an upper, shaving position to a lower stropping position; and a spring tending to move the guard toward the blade.

3. A razor having, in combination, a stock including a grasping portion or handle, and an upper portion rigidly connected with the handle; a blade; pivotal connections, directly between the blade and said upper portion of the stock, upon which the blade may "l se be turned about an axis transverse to its length; a guard; sliding connections, between tlie guard and the stock, upon which the O'uard ma move toward and from the' blade, in a direction longitudinal with respect to the stock; andL means for normally retaining the guard against such movement when in engagement with the blade.

4. A razor having, in combination, a stock including a giasping-portioii or handle, and an upper portion rigidly connected with the handle; a blade; pivotal connections, directly between the blade and said upper portion of the stoclnupon which the blade may be turned about an axis transverse to its length; a guard; movable connections, be tween the guard and the stock, upon which the guard may move toward and from the blade; and means, connected to and movable with the guard, for yretaining the blade against movement about its said pivotal connections when it is in stropping position. parallel with the stock.

5. A razor having, in combination, a hollow handle; an arm extending upwardly, but rearwardly oilset, from the handle; a

blade-holder pivoted, at t-he middle of itsY length, to the upper end of saidvarm so as to swing about an axis transverse to the length of the blade-holder; a stem slidable in the handle; means carried by the stein, for engaging and holding` an end of the blade-holder when it is in stropping posi-l tion; and a guard movable toward and from the blade-holder and connected to operate withsaid stem.

G. A razor having, in combination, a hollow handle; a blade-holder connected, at 'the middle of its length, with the handle through a joint adapted to permit the bladeholder to swing about a longitudinal axis and also about a transverse axis; a stem slidingly mounted in the handle; a guard cai'ried by the stem; and a retaining-device also carried by the stem and adapted to en'- gage the end of the bladediolder and retain itL against swinging movement.-

7. A razor having, in combination, a stock; a blade; a blade-holder in the form of a l clip with open ends, the blade-holder being longer thanthe blade so as to extend,

length, to the upper end of said arm so as o to swing about an axis transverse to the lengthvof the blade-holder; a stem slidable l to the 'upper end of said arm so as to`swing,

.about lan axis vtransverse to the length of the blade-holder; and a guard connected with the handle and movable toward and from the blade-holder,

f 10. A razor having, in combination, a handle;l an arm extending upwardly, but rearwardly offset, from thehandle; 'a blade;

means for pivotally connecting the blade, at a point adjacent the middle of its rear edge, to the upper end of said arm so as to swing about an axis transverse to the length of the blade; andmeans, including a guard, mov ably connected with the handle and adapted to vretain the. bladein either shaving posi-A tion, with its length transverse to said arm, or stropping position, with its -length `substantially parallel with the arm.

11. A razor having, in combination, ahandle; an arm extending upwardly, but rearwardly o'set, from the handle; a blade;

means for pivotally connecting the'blade, at a point adjacent the middle of its rear edge,

'to lthe upper end-of said arm, so as to swing about an 'axis transverse to the length of theand = scopic member.

blade aiguard connected with the handle so -as to be movable alternatively into` coperative relation with the blade, when the latter is in shaving position, with its length transverse to said-arm, and into' a positionbelow the lower end of the blade, whenvthe blade is in stropping position with ,its length substantiallwy' parallel with said arm; and means f connected with and movable by, the guard,

for retaining the blade in stropping position. i

l2. A razor having, in combination, two

telescopically arranged members, of which the outer one constitutes a stock for the' razor, and the inner one extends entirely through the outer one; a blade pivotally connected, at the middle of its length, with the upper end of thev stock; and a 'guard mounted on the upper end ofthe inner tele- 13. A razor havlng, in combination, two

telescopically arranged members, of which lthe outer lone constitutes a stock for the' razor, and the inner oneeXtends entirely throughv the .outer one; :a blade pivotally connected, at the niiddle ofits length, with theupper end of the stock, and means,on

the upper endofthe inner telescopicmerfi-- ber, for retaining the blade in stroppingposition, with its length substantiallv Daralle with the stock.

FARNUM F. DoRsEY. 

